- Dec 26, 2010
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First saw AB playing for NSW in a one-day match against a combined Country WA XI in the late 70's. This is back in the days where visiting teams would bring a squad and play a warm up game before a Shield Game - such was the status of Sheffield Shield cricket.
Geoff Lawson, still to debut for NSW, was a terrifying young fast bowler back then and had a few batsman ducking and scurrying and NSW chased down a modest total very professionally, only losing a couple of wickets with plenty of overs to spare. It was a very disappointing no contest for us in the crowd as we had seen the country side beat the visiting Victorian team the previous season.
Didn't know who the NSW batsman at the crease were when the winning runs were scored as there were no names on the scoreboard, but NSW agreed to bat out the remaining overs to get some batting practice in. Then the left hander started hitting sixes straight over the sightscreen to entertain the crowd - so word got around in the stand that his name was Allan Border.
When the Shield game came a few days later there was also a Test Match on, and the ABC TV coverage would intermittently superimpose the scoreboard figures of the WA vs NSW game during the coverage of the test match. WA had NSW at about 6-180 and looking good, but all the graphics that followed for the next couple of hours had one constant build up of runs beside the name Border. He scored most of the rest of the runs with the NSW tail and they got around 350. Later in the summer he was picked for his Test debut against England.
Geoff Lawson, still to debut for NSW, was a terrifying young fast bowler back then and had a few batsman ducking and scurrying and NSW chased down a modest total very professionally, only losing a couple of wickets with plenty of overs to spare. It was a very disappointing no contest for us in the crowd as we had seen the country side beat the visiting Victorian team the previous season.
Didn't know who the NSW batsman at the crease were when the winning runs were scored as there were no names on the scoreboard, but NSW agreed to bat out the remaining overs to get some batting practice in. Then the left hander started hitting sixes straight over the sightscreen to entertain the crowd - so word got around in the stand that his name was Allan Border.
When the Shield game came a few days later there was also a Test Match on, and the ABC TV coverage would intermittently superimpose the scoreboard figures of the WA vs NSW game during the coverage of the test match. WA had NSW at about 6-180 and looking good, but all the graphics that followed for the next couple of hours had one constant build up of runs beside the name Border. He scored most of the rest of the runs with the NSW tail and they got around 350. Later in the summer he was picked for his Test debut against England.
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